How Much is One Billion Dollars?
This article appeared in the March 20, 1941 issue of The Wanderer. (Well, 70 years later we can add 15 trillion into the example.) Here’s a simple and homely illustration of what one billion dollars amounts to: Suppose we take an imaginary boy, aged 15 years, and assign to him the task of counting one billion dollars in one-dollar bills. If he’s unusually alert and tireless, he might manage to count about 100 one-dollar bills a minute. (Try it and see.) We’d have to be sure our young man was strong and persevering, for we propose to work him eight hours a day and five days a week until the task of counting one billion dollars is completedAfter he finishes…Continue Reading